User blog:Derekoe/DmC: Devil May Cry Knowledge Primer

This will be updated as more info becomes available. Last update October 14th This blog is to act as a primer for anything and everything for DmC: Devil May Cry. Everything contained within are elements that are known from watching gameplay streams, reading interviews, and otherwise paying attention. The info is usually linked somewhere within this article or from specific articles I link to. Since this is on the Devil May Cry Wikia, there will be a copious amount of links to different articles on the wiki, which can and should be followed for more in-depth looks at what is talked about to get a much greater understanding of the game and its concepts.

This blog is for anyone who has wanted to know more about the game, or anyone who is skeptical of what it has to offer, but hasn't immediately written it off. This blog isn't meant to be biased one way or another, despite my interest in the game, and primarily serves to better inform those interested in learning more, and give more insight into some of the reasons people should or shouldn't be concerned. In the end though, it's all up to your own judgment.

What Is DmC: Devil May Cry
As people should know by now, DmC: Devil May Cry (hereafter DmC) is the next installment in the Devil May Cry franchise, which was announced at TGS 2010. However, there are a few key differences between this new game and the older games of the "classic Devil May Cry" series (hereafter DMC), as well as many similarities that hold true to what has been referred to as the franchise's "DNA," or core gameplay elements.

This new DmC has been sourced to Ninja Theory (hereafter NT) by Capcom, who chose to find a more occidental approach to game development, attempting to "Westernize" the more explicitly Japanese-like game. NT was chosen primarily because Capcom wanted to place more emphasis on narrative and the story presentation, rather than go with another "antagonist seeks to open portal to the underworld" shtick that lies at the core of all the classic DMC stories.

At the same time, DmC will be taking another pass at Dante's origins, but instead of adhering to the existing canon of DMC, this game will be building upon the story of an alternate universe. As such, whatever DmC does with its own world and the franchise's heritage, has aboslutely no effect whatsoever on the classic DMC canon.

The best way to think of how DmC fits within the larger DMC franchise is to think of Christopher Nolan's Dark Knight trilogy, which was an at times extremely different take on certain elements of the Batman formula. If you go into the game not expecting so much of the classic DMC, you'll be surprised by the similarities or nods to the classics, while being a bit more receptive of the new things that DmC is doing.

No one should be thinking that NT is completely at fault for the direction DmC is taking, as well, because it was Capcom's directive to make a contrasting game in the franchise, and they gave those guidelines to NT. Originally, Dante's design more closely resembled his classic look, but Capcom wished for something more different. Even then, while the look is different, that "franchise DNA" is still there, and was a main focus of development.

Throughout development, NT and Capcom have also had monthly meetings where they play through the most current build of the game, take notes, make suggestions and tweak what they feel could be tweaked. DmC's development has been less of sending the franchise off to NT to make their own game, and much more of a collaboration between NT and Capcom, where NT is given free reign over what they do best (narrative and presentation), while Capcom was given control over how to help NT develop the combat.

One specific feature that NT is working on is the exceedingly detailed motion capturing being done for cutscenes. Utilizing the same technology from James Cameron's Avatar, the actors whose motions are being captured are those who are also voicing the characters, and who each character's face is modeled after. In order to achieve this, special head-mounted cameras are used to record the actor's facial expressions during performance, owing to a more authentic marriage of speech and expression.

What's different?
Of course, since this is not only a new game but essentially a different take on the series, there are a few changes. The most pronounced of which is the art direction, which paints the world in a more contemporary gothic-style using street art to accentuate the game's overall theme of "rebellion," much like that of the late 70s and early 80s with punk rock movements. While punk displayed rebellion using song, Dante displays his rebellion with action and fighting.

Story & Setting
As stated previously, DmC takes place in an alternate universe, and therefore, many things are justifiably different with the game's story and how certain characters are portrayed. DmC's setting is Limbo City, a metropolis that is secretly being controlled by demons, who manipulate humanity through the comforts of life. Existing parallel to the real world is the dimension Limbo, where demons enact their plans and make use of their demonic magic.

Dante is a young outcast who lives on the fringes of society, thanks to the demonic forces that have consistently made his life a living hell from the moment his family was torn apart at a young age. Bounced around to many demon-run institutions, Dante was abused repeatedly for his lineage, that of the son of a demon father and an angel mother. Because of this, the normal nonchalant and cocky Dante we know from the classic series also has a lot more anger for the demons that ruined his life, and acts with a bit of irreverence as well.

Over 9000 years prior to DmC, Mundus came to power over the demonic hordes with help from Sparda, and now controls Limbo City and its oblivious populace. However, a group of rebels known as The Order have had it out for the demons for quite a while, constantly trying to reveal to humanity the invisible hand that controls them. Led by Dante's long-lost brother Vergil, The Order recruits Dante because he alone possesses a gene that allows him to enter Limbo and fight the demons directly. With Dante's help, The Order goes on the offensive, attacking demon-controlled faciltiies to help break their hold on the city.

Of note is the fact that while this is a retelling of Dante's origins, it actually takes place prior to even events like that of DMC3, where Dante had just begun his demon-hunting business. In DmC, Dante hasn't even achieved full control over the powers he has yet, and hasn't yet found his purpose. DmC could be seen as the major events that spark Dante to become a demon hunter, protecting humanity from all manner of evil, like we know of.

Because this is an alternate universe where characters grew up with different lives and went through various circumstances different from the classic series, many of the characters have subtly different personality traits that go along with their "classic character." NT retained as much of a character's personality as possible, but some things have changed simply because of the circumstances that have brought the characters to where they are.

Many have alleged that Tameem Antoniades, Ninja Theory's creative director on DmC, inserted himself in the game because of Dante's initial design in the TGS 2012 trailer. He has gone on record saying nothing of the sort happened, and the claim holds less water now that Dante is modelled after Tim Phillipps, who is playing Dante. It's most likely that the original design was simply a placeholder to show off the new setting and design before the actor was signed on and facial modeling was completed. People also worried over Dante's smoking habit, but Tameem has said he has "quit," since the announcement trailer.

Controls & Gameplay Features
Gameplay has always been at the core of any Devil May Cry experience, and that gameplay has always accentuated lots of crazy combat, switching between weapons on-the-fly to create near-endless combos and reach a high Style Ranking for greater payouts. The controls have always been really tight and the scheme was easy enough to use once you got the hang of it. This, is the control scheme for DmC...

/ = Gun Attack

/ = Melee Attack

/ = Special Attack

/ = Jump

/ or  /  = Dodge (Can be done in midair)

/ = Angel Shift

/ = Devil Shift

Left Stick= Move Character

Right Stick= Move Camera

L3 + R3= Devil Trigger

D-Pad Up= Change Gun

D-Pad Left= Change Angel Weapon

D-Pad Right = Change Demon Weapon

Now, this control scheme is slightly different from the classic DMC, but pretty much everything that could be done in DMC can still be done with DmC's controls... Because of the controls, and some new features, gameplay has been slightly tweaked to accommodate. One of the largest differences is the emphasis on aerial combat, and being able to control positions with the use of the grappling chain, which acts much like an updated version of Nero's Devil Bringer.
 * Attacks and Abilities that use different weapons are done by simply holding in one of the "Shift" triggers and pressing a corresponding button, like using [[File:B_l2.gif]]+[[File:B_t.gif]] for a scythe attack. Releasing the trigger immediately changes back to Rebellion. Using the D-Pad for swapping weapons immediately places the new weapon in the arsenal, and can even be swapped out mid-combo. This effectively gives the player access to an increasingly high volume of weapon combinations, on par with or even surpassing what was available in DMC4 at any given time
 * [[File:B_l1.gif]] and [[File:B_r1.gif]] both being used for dodging was done because there are also Angel and Demon dodges with different effects, and this makes it easier on one's fingers to push [[File:B_l2.gif]]+[[File:B_r1.gif]] and [[File:B_r2.gif]]+[[File:B_l1.gif]]
 * There is no active Hard Lock button. This allows for more omnidirectional fighting. As such, attacks like Hightime are now mapped to the "Special Attack" button, but more applicably it might be called a "Vertical" attack button, since it's also used for dropping attacks like Helm Breaker. Overall, the Special Attack button's main use revolves around verticality, focusing on moving enemies or Dante up or down
 * Taunting was removed from the control scheme for reasons related to the narrative. The best example given was because if Dante were in an emotionally-charged, dramatic encounter, it would break the narrative flow, and seem out-of-place to have him become overly cocky when moments before he was sullen or serious

Dante is given several different abilities with his weapons which he can use to preserve his airtime and keep enemies caught in devestating aerial combos. Dante is also able to pull enemies to himself, or vice versa, using the Demon Pull and Angel Lift abilties, which can be used to gather up enemies, or otherwise escape from unfavorable situations.

Pull and Lift are also used in DmC's other gameplay accentuation; platforming. In the classic series, much of Dante's time was spent running from area to area battling demons and finding new pathways to get closer to his goal. In DmC, because of how Limbo can twist the city into setpieces normally not seen until Dante reaches the Underworld in older games, Dante will also be jumping and grappling along platforms as well. Limbo will also attempt to impede Dante at numerous turns, cutting off pathways with walls or trying to crush Dante by closing alleys he runs through.

Dante's Devil Trigger is also slightly different. Instead of having a fully demonic transformation, his hair becomes flushed white and his coat turns blood-red, and he is afforded a small amount of control over Limbo, allowing DT's activation to pop smaller enemies into the air with reduced gravity, or otherwise give Dante a small edge over his enemies. DT still grants more strength, speed, and regenerates lost vitality when in use.

DmC is being developed on the Unreal Engine 3, instead of Capcom's MT Framework that was used in DMC4. This was done as UE3 is a very easy engine to work with, and can be tweaked and modified extensively to fit with what the developer wants out of their game world. NT is extremely familiar with UE3, and given the time frame in which they were to complete DmC, they could not spend more time learning to operate on a Japanese engine.

The game will also be running at a locked 30 frames-per-second, as opposed to DMC's usual 60fps. This, however, does not affect gameplay speed at all. Framerate was locked due in part to the addition of the environments being much more animated than previous DMCs. In order to avoid incurring unnecessary lag in animation and controls, it was locked at 30fps so that choppy framerates wouldn't arise during combat. The downside to a high framerate can be that if too much is being animated on the screen at one time, framerate can drop low enough to incur choppy animations. Locking it at 30fps means that while the game could very well be running at 60fps, you're only seeing half of that, but at the same time the chance for framerate lag is much lower.

For those without a frame of reference for what "Frames-per-second" means, it's the number of animation frames that are shown within one standard second. Games with high framerates often look much smoother because you're seeing more active frames of animation. As an example, the classic Stinger and DmC's Stinger could both take Dante one second to move ten feet from point A to point B, but since the classic Stinger is running at 60fps, you're seeing more of Dante's movement than you are at 30fps, despite both attacks lasting the exact same duration, and covering the exact same amount of distance from A to B. The only thing that a locked 30fps could possibly affect is how tight the window for "Just" inputs are, where input is required within only a small number of frames.

Regardless of the framerate, Capcom has had a small group of their own developers working alongside NT to show them their design philosophies, and ensure that DmC "has the feel of a 60fps DMC game," as they said, and also still retains the crazy, over-the-top combat DMC is known for.

Remarks about DmC's slower overall speed compared to other DMCs is mostly unsubstantiated at this time, unless someone wants to go ahead and find a way to compare them. I'm not sure how you'd even gauge such a thing. There are just as many claims from people who have played the game saying that speed isn't any different as much as there are saying it is slower. As usual, you'll have to take what anyone says about this with a grain of salt until you're able to play it for yourself.

The background music for DmC will be somewhat similar to the classics, with its mixture of heavy guitar and synthesized notes, as well as some more dramatic gospel-like tunes. However, instead of one or two tracks made in-house that are repetead throughout the game's combat events, DmC will match its contemporary setting with contemporary musical groups like Noisia and Combichrist, offering up a wider range of songs heard in the background and at different combat events throughout the game. The music still attempts to retain the slightly darker feel that most DMC music is known for.

What's the same?
Despite all these differences, there are still plenty of things that are similar to the classic DMCs and in suit with NT and Capcom's desire to stay true to the "franchise DNA."

Story Elements
What little consistent story DMC possessed has been retained as much as possible with DmC's characters and other elements. You have all the major players like Dante, Vergil, Sparda, and Mundus, as well as the plethora of demons and other story-related bosses, along with series staples like the Amulet, Yamato, and things like Dante and Vergil being the twin sons of Sparda and Eva, Mundus ruling over the demonic realm, Dante separated from his mother and brother at an early age, and Sparda's usual absence.

For the small few of those still worried over Dante's black hair, many videos have depicted his hair becoming more white as the story progresses, as patches of lighter hair form from the crown of his head (even from the intial announcement trailer). This could possibly lead to an all-white haircolor by the end of the game, signaling Dante's full control over the magic he possesses. NT has even explained that there is a reason for many of the things you see in DmC, like his hair, so we'll have to play the game and experience the story to fully understand.

Gameplay
Gameplay itself remains largely unchanged as well, except for how much more open the combat itself has become due to the new controls. Combat is still focused on creating crazy, over-the-top combos for taking out enemies with style, whereupon the player will receive Red Orbs based on their current rank when they defeat enemies. Red Orbs and the game's new "upgrade points" (official name unknown yet) will then be used at Divinity Statues to purchase items and upgrades to expand Dante's skillset more.

The story is still segmented into Missions, which can be revisited at any time just like the older games. The story itself is said to take roughly 10 to 12 hours to complete, although high-level players could complete it in less time. With a larger emphasis on traversal, each Mission also includes spots off the beaten path where the player will find secrets, like Keys and Lost Souls, which are collected to boost your Mission ranking, much like secret deposits of Red Orbs and Red Orb Crystals do. There will also be a number of "Secret Doors" to find in each mission, which can be opened with bronze, silver, gold, and platinum keys. What lies beyond these doors is a mystery.

The game still accentuates the use of multiple weapons in creating long and devastating combos, and with being able to hold the triggers for changing to Angel or Demon mode, swapping between Dante's Rebellion, and an angelic or demonic weapon is made fluid and easy (according to those who have played the game/demo). Each weapon has a handful of abilties, and there are several that can be used outside of combat, helping Dante traverse areas by pulling out platforms, smashing walls, or using the Skystar-styled "Angel Glide" to avoid pits. Here is a list of all known weaponry, and their alignment... More weapons will be available in the game than what we have been shown so far, so we just have to be patient.
 * Ebony &amp; Ivory [Human]
 * Revenant (Shotgun) [Human]
 * Rebellion [Human]
 * Osiris [Angel]
 * Arbiter [Demon]
 * Eryx [Demon]

All weapons can be swapped out on the fly with the d-pad as well, meaning that while you have four active weapons (Rebellion, angelic weapon, demonic weapon, and a firearm), you can easily swap one out for another, even mid-combo, like swapping through hits from Eryx, then back to Arbiter. This ends up making the game much more open, and a bit more streamlined than what Dante could do in DMC4.

Jump Canceling also makes a reappearance in DmC, and has been shown off in several streams and trailers.

While Styles won't be returning, the abilities of the different Styles will. If you took a peek at the weapons' abilities, you can see many returning in similar, if not the same forms. Rain Storm is still intact, as are moves like Fireworks, Prop Shredder, Over Drive, Aerial Rave, Trickster's moves, as well as others. We still haven't seen everything yet either, so more may arise as the game gets closer to release.

Of important note is that DmC once again makes use of the series' standard "pause combos," where different attacks can be used by pausing in-between attack inputs for different results. Many feared that the game would use the "dial-a-combo" system of past NT games and more recent Ninja Gaiden games, where inputting different combinations of multiple attack keys resulted in different combos, but this is not the case. DmC continues the trend of pause combos that the DMC franchise is known for.

With all these new options available at almost all times, we can't forget about how that variety affects the player's Stylish Rank. Slightly modified from the classic DMCs, DmC's Style meter is a bit more informative. Aside from popping up your current grade on the HUD, it also tells the player the current move being done, how many points towards the Style meter it gives, and some other modifiers like perfect parries or dodges, or killing multiple enemies at once. With this new level of feedback, it allows the player to modify their combat to get the most style they can. Other than those changes in the amount of feedback the Style system gives, it is pretty much just like the classics', requiring the player to vary the skills they use, avoid attacks, and exploit openings in enemies' defenses. Being struck by an attack will instantly drop your rank down three grades, similar to DMC4.

It was mentioned earlier on that the Style meter was also tied to the background music, where more and more of the score would come in the higher your Style grade became. It also infers a modest speed boost to the player once they reach an S rank and above, further incentivizing achieving a higher level of skill.

While it may seem easier to achieve a higher Style score than in the classic games, the fact that there are so many more options available to the player at any given moment has to be taken into consideration. The more varied a player's attacks are, the more Style they'll garner, and this is no different from watching absurd-level combo videos, where a variety of attacks (and cancels) are required.

Some fans were worried that the game may have been too dumbed down to accomodate for the casual market, and those fears were emphasized when demos of early builds were playable, and certain footage arose. Alex Jones of Capcom was asked about one particular concern (at right) in DmC's Eurogamer 2012 panel, which he replied simply with "Fixed." While concerns have arisen through the game's development, now that it's on the showfloors of gaming conventions, NT and Capcom have taken the feedback, and addressed those concerns while polishing the game before release. The evidence of their constant polishing can be seen throughout each of the streams where Greg of Capcom-Unity plays more and more recent builds.

Glitches themselves that have been shown off from demo footage aren't really a good reference to what the retail build will be, as demos themselves are portions of gameplay removed from the larger build, which can cause unforeseen coding glitches. These early demos give players a good idea of what a game has to offer, but shouldn't really be accepted as how the final game will be, especially when considering how much of the "polishing" has changed things between builds. If anything, finding glitches in the demo is some welcome help in refining the game before its release.

Speaking of gameplay, while you might be tempted to look at camera footage of players on the showcase floors, watching streams directly from Capcom-Unity provides a much better display of the level of play possible in the game. This list starts from the most recent stream available... As stated in several of the streams, while footage of DmC from showfloor demos might make the game seem much easier than past DMC games, the demo builds have been set to one of the easiest difficulties in order to allow anyone stepping up to the game from the showfloor to get into it a bit easier, acting sort of as "tutorial" builds.
 * New York Comic-Con 2012 "Nightclub" Gameplay w/ Samurai Devastator weapon pack
 * PAX PRime 2012 "Overturn" Demo Gameplay
 * GamesCom 2012 "Under Watch" Combat Mechanics Gameplay
 * E3 2012 "Under Watch" Demo Stream
 * E3 2012 "Under Watch" Demo with creative director Tameem Antoniades

Any of the footage from the listed streams that could be conceived as "easy," consideration must be given to the fact that the players, especially Greg of Capcom-Unity, have been tasked with practicing DmC for months on end. So while it could be said that DmC might look easy, it's because Greg makes it look easy. Greg himself is also an avid DMC fan, his favorite being the non-special edition of DMC3 (which is said to be the more difficult version).

In contrast to the high level of play in the streams, where Style is garnered and maintained for much of the combat, here are examples of the most recent build (Eurogamer 2012) of DmC, where simply attacking over and over with little variation leads to poor Style... Only ever managing to eke by into the B grade for a moment because of some slight juggling or by catching multiple enemies with attacks, seeing this less-than-stylish gameplay without attack variance, weapon swapping, aerial combos and avoiding damage shows that variety, quick execution of skills, and exploiting openings are still the only primary source of garnering higher Style.
 * Eurogamer 2012 Cam Gameplay part 1
 * Eurogamer 2012 Cam Gameplay part 2
 * Eurogamer 2012 Cam Gameplay part 3

In the stream with Tameem Antoniades, it is mentioned that NT recognizes the combat difficulty as a major factor in the franchise's popularity. In an attempt to preserve that level of challenge, DmC was built upon one of its highest difficulties, and then dumbed down from there for each of the lower difficulties. Whether or not the game is truly as easy as people claim it is, we'll need the full release to decide. The dev team has, however, promised that DmC will have challenging modes available for those seeking greater difficulty.

Other features have also been asked about, like Turbo Mode and the Bloody Palace, but NT and Capcom haven't been able to discuss them, as is per usual with a game still in development.

At the end of the day...
Everyone is entitled to their own opinion, but I hope this was able to inform those who were curious or skeptical, and help them come to a more informed judgment.

I, myself, have a buddy who got to play one of the more recent demos at a GameStop manager's conference, and he had played all the classic DMCs as well, just like me. He said that while the controls take some getting used to, the game is still very much DMC, but with more emphasis on manipulating positions, and its different art style. I trust his judgment on this, and along with everything that I've seen and read about DmC has made me interested enough to want to purchase the game. I suppose I could note that my interest in the game primarily comes from a point that I just love games, it's my hobby, and this one looks interesting and fun to me. The fact that it happens to be tied to one of my favorite franchises in some way is just a great extra bonus, and it'll be interesting to fully see NT's interpretations of DMC's concepts and themes. However, that's purely my stance, why I'm interested in the game, and why I support it.

If you're able to embrace change, or otherwise accept that this DmC has little to no affect on the classic DMC, you might be able to enjoy the game. Of course, if you've already written off the game because of its changes, or what someone from the dev teams said, or feeling that you've been completely wronged in some contrived way, I really won't be able to change your mind anyway, and it just makes me wonder why you wasted so much time bothering to read this O_o

Once again I hope this was enough to inform you of everything you needed to know about the upcoming DmC: Devil May Cry, out on January 15th for PS3 and 360. A demo will be out some time in December as well.

Keep it stylish, everyone!